Australians call for a boycott of the Sri Lankan national cricket team’s tour of Australia due to the country's poor human rights record, reported the Brisbane Times.
The Tamil Refugee Council and Refugee Action Collective in Victoria have been pushing for a boycott ahead of the first Test, due to take place this week.
In an open letter, both groups stated,
“There will be a stain of injustice that won’t wash out of cricket whites if the human rights abuses of the ruling Sri Lankan regime pass unremarked,”
Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Australia, Mr Samarasinghe, dismissed the calls for a boycott as unworthy of attention, claiming that those calling for boycotts had vested interests.
The two refugee organisations defended their action, stating,
“Sporting boycotts have been important in building international pressure against cruel regimes and human rights abuses before. There is no good reason Sri Lanka should escape this pressure.”
